Jason Wilnis is going to get “badly hurt” in the GLORY 40 COPENHAGEN main event, according to rival and opponent Simon Marcus.
The two are tied 1-1 after two fights (GLORY 20 and GLORY 33) and in the most recent battle, Wilnis stopped Marcus in the third round and took the belt from him. This Saturday night's fight is therefore both a tie-breaker and a title fight.
“I have a good idea that he will get really badly hurt in this fight because I feel really at one with myself and when I go into the ring feeling my best then nobody can compete,” says the former champion.
“He won what he won, did what he did, earned what he earned, nobody can take that away from him. But if you ask me he is not the champion, not the real champion. When I look in the mirror I see the champion, when I look at Wilnis I do not.
“When I get in the ring what happens happens. All the work, mindset, preparations, visions are all done beforehand. I have done the work and what is going to happen is going to happen and either way I am bringing the belt home - it's my belt.”
A strong beef has developed between Wilnis and Marcus, much of the bad blood stemming from earlier this year when Marcus was in the crowd at GLORY 37 LOS ANGELES for Wilnis' title defense against Israel Adesanya.
Marcus spent the duration of the bout hectoring and cat-calling Wilnis, much to the annoyance of the Dutch fighter and his team. Marcus sealed the deal when he made his way backstage afterwards and tried to storm Wilnis' dressing room to remonstrate with him; Wilnis' team forced him out and made a formal complaint about him.
Has that made this fight a personal issue? Wilnis has said so, Marcus agrees – kind of.
“It's personal but not personal against him, it's personal me against myself. He is being all emotional and all upset over things I said and did but every fighter knows whatever happens outside the ring is not what you are supposed to be focusing on,” he says.
“I am going to do and say what I want and if he responds to it that's up to him. He can get upset and try to hurt me but at the end of the day we are going to get in the ring he is going to have to fight me like a man and I will kick his ass, knock him out.”
GLORY 40 COPENHAGEN takes place Saturday, April 29 at the Forum Copenhagen in Denmark, Copenhagen. Aside from the middleweight title fight main event it also features a four-man Middleweight Contender Tournament.
